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Toledo at Akron tops weekend men's basketball schedule

Updated February 2, 2018 at 8:41 AM;Posted February 2, 2018 at 8:35 AM

Toledo forward Willie Jackson (Garfield Heights High) dunks last week against rival Bowling Green, but is questionalbe for Saturday's game at Akron with a sore shoulder. (Daniel Miller/University of Toledo Photo).

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The two hottest teams in the Mid-American Conference were doused Tuesday night, but will try to get back on track Saturday when the Toledo Rockets travel to the Akron Zips.

The Rockets (14-7, 6-2) had been an offensive powerhouse and were coming off a 101-75 victory over rival Bowling Green, then took a snooze against Ball State on Tuesday, being outrebounded, 58-41, (19-7 offensive) in a 75-63 setback that ended a seven-game winning streak.

Toledo barely defeated Akron earlier this season, 67-65. The Zips (10-11, 3-6) have not fared well on the road, but at home in MAC play Akron stands 3-1 with its only loss to league-leading Buffalo. The Rockets also played their last game without Willie Jackson (Garfield Heights High), the 6-6 sophomore transfer from Missouri who is nursing a sore shoulder.

"I kind of sensed that guys weren't ready to play,'' leading scorer Tre'Shaun Fletcher told the Toledo Blade. "This seven-game winning streak was kind of getting blown out of proportion."

To start a new one, Toledo will have to stifle an Akron team that includes junior Jimond Ivey (Glenville), who had a 48-point game last week at Ball State. He will be looking to get back in rhythm after just a seven-point outing in Akron's loss to Miami earlier this week.

In Horizon League play Saturday, Cleveland State (6-18, 3-8), coming off a Thursday night upset over first-place Wright State (17-7, 9-2), will take on Horizon's No. 2 team, Northern Kentucky (16-7, 9-2) at 3 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. Youngstown State (6-18, 4-7) will be on the road at 7 p.m. at WSU.

On the Horizon: The league is currently a four-team race led by Wright State, one game up on Northern Kentucky via tiebreaker, followed by Illinois-Chicago (12-11, 7-3) and Oakland (14-9, 6-4). The Raiders were not expected to be very good this season, but 6-9, 275-pound redshirt freshman Loudon Love (11.8 ppg, 9.3 rpg) has made WSU an extremely tough team to beat. He has five double-doubles in league play, including two games with 17 rebounds.

It can be argued Wright State is the fourth-best Division I team in the state behind Ohio State, Cincinnati and Xavier, which are all nationally ranked. The Raiders have won five of seven conference road games following the loss at Cleveland State.

Youngstown State did not win a D1 game in the non-conference season, but has regrouped in league play by moving senior Cam Morse from shooting guard to point guard. Morse, who averaged 22.9 points a game last season and 3.1 assists, is now averaging 14.5 points and 3.7 assists. However the assist numbers in league play sit at 4.0, including games with 11 and six.

MAC facts: Even after Buffalo suffered its first league loss of the season, 82-79 at Kent State, it's NCAA Tournament at-large resume remains viable. Buffalo (16-6, 8-1) enters its first (that right, first) home game with students on hand Friday night against preseason favorite Western Michigan (13-9, 5-4), with an RPI of 31, and a non-conference strength of schedule at No. 8.

Just ahead of Buffalo is Texas A&M at No. 30 with a non-con SOS of 18. And right behind at No. 32 is Michigan (256), followed by No. 33 West Virginia (208).

Buffalo finished 9-5 in non-conference play, but played the bulk of that with a shortened roster as starting senior center Ikenna Smart missed the first nine games with a back injury. Also, starting guard Wes Clark missed the first 10 games as a transfer from Missouri, and defending MAC Defensive Player of the Year Dontay Caruthers missed 11 games with a stress fracture.

With UB and Toledo still the top two teams in the league, the battle is on to get the No. 3 and No. 4 spots for the automatic byes to the MAC Tournament in Cleveland.

Kent (12-10, 6-3) is alone in third place, one game ahead of WMU, Miami and Ball State. The Golden Flashes still have five MAC road games to play, starting Saturday at Bowling Green (13-9, 4-5), then back-to-backs Feb. 9 and Feb. 13 at Ball State and Buffalo, plus the season-ender at Akron.